Midnight Gond: Pauper

It’s Tuesday O’Clock! Time for a deck tech!

This week we will be heading to the wonderful format of Pauper, and discuss the “Splinter Twin” deck of the format. That deck is, of course, Midnight Gond.

Midnight Gond is a combo deck focused on 2 different cards, Midnight Guard and Presence of Gond. On their own, these cards don’t do very much but when combined they allow you to produce an infinite amount of tokens. Here’s how it works: if you enchant a Midnight Guard who has no summoning sickness with Presence of Gond you can then tap him to produce a token. When he does he will untap himself through his ability, and can then tap again creating another token. Do this 300,000 times and you should be set! Then on the next turn, you can swing in for so much damage that they will have no chance of coming back. If you also happen to have a Soul Warden out on the battlefield, you can then gain an infinite amount of life as well.

There are 2 different ways to build this deck. Version 1 is all in on the combo complete with tutors, card draw, and mana ramp, in order to get the combo out as soon as possible. Version 2, however, plays like a more traditional token deck, flooding the board with a ton of tokens through more reasonable cards such as Selesnya Evangel, and Sprout Swarm. Both decks have their own advantages and disadvantages, however, the traditional token deck is probably the more competitive version of the list. The one weakness to this deck, however, is that it is very vulnerable to removal. If you go to cast Presence of Gond targeting your Midnight Guard and they Lightning Bolt it in response you just lost two cards to their one. Running cards such as Gods Willing and Ranger’s Guile can help you in a pinch, but it can still be problematic. So if you ever go to combo off, always be aware of how much mana they have available. A rogue removal spell can often seal the game against your favor.

However, Midnight Gond can still be a terrifying deck to face against. Much like Splinter Twin tapping out against this deck can often spell the end if they are able to get their combo online. When facing this deck, use your removal sparingly, and never tap out against them if possible. When playing the deck do your best to keep your protection spells online for your Midnight Guard. Sometimes the correct play is to keep him in your hand until you are sure you can protect him from the pile of removal that your opponent is likely holding in wait.

If you have been missing your old Splinter Twin deck be sure to check this out! It may not be the most well-positioned deck in the Pauper metagame, but it is still quite capable of pulling wins out of nowhere and letting you relive the glory days.